Save the Children Supports New Campaign For Food In Schools
Save the Children Supports New Campaign For Food In
Schools
EMBARGOED 8AM Wednesday 1
May 2013
Save the Children New Zealand is
behind the Community Campaign for Food in Schools,
which launches today and the child rights organisation is
calling on New Zealanders to let the government know just
how important it is to ‘feed the kids’.
“The
food in schools campaign is about taking care of our
children. The level of child poverty in New Zealand has
doubled over the last 30 years and is quite simply
unacceptable. All of us, including government, have a role
to play in tackling this issue” said Save the Children New
Zealand chief executive Heather Hayden.
A Ministry
of Health Survey found that 20.1 percent of New Zealand
households with school-age children did not have enough food
for active and healthy living.
The Community
Campaign for Food in Schools aims to encourage community
and political involvement in the delivery of food in
schools as a measure to tackle child poverty that can be
introduced relatively quickly. And the organisations
involved want to encourage public debate about how food in
schools could be provided.
“There are many ways
we could deliver food in schools. They include the
recommendations in the Education (Breakfast and Lunch in
Schools) Amendment Bill, which the members of this
campaign are asking the government to support. What is
important is that we all agree that feeding our kids is a
priority issue” said Ms Hayden.
“We know that
when we don’t give our children a good start we
collectively pay the price, at a cost of around $6 billion
each year in areas like health, remedial education and
reduced productivity costs,” she said.
“As a
signatory to the United Nations convention on the Rights of
the Child, the New Zealand government is obliged to ensure
that children realise their right to an adequate standard of
living. As part of the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of
its, we urge the government to take the issue of food in
schools – and our children’s futures - seriously.”
Save the Children has also heard from children
themselves on the issue. The topic of hunger has been
discussed by children and young people on Save the
Children’s Values Exchange forum. “Children who
are distracted by hunger can’t learn. They are more likely
to be disruptive in the classroom and report feeling
confused and lethargic when they go to school hungry” said
Ms Hayden.
“We often talk about living another
day in paradise. The reality is that thousands of children
in New Zealand go to school too hungry to learn and
develop. That’s not right. Through this campaign we
are calling on the public, parents, families, communities
– all of us - to tell the government to play their part
and feed the kids,” she said.
ENDS